Hin and her are 2 commonly encountered local adverbs (lokal adverb). Confusing them is something that can easily happen. Today's article will help you distinguish between hin and her.
Hin and her are 2 commonly encountered local adverbs (lokal adverb). Confusing them is entirely possible. Today's article will help you distinguish between hin and her.
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1. Distinguishing hin and her
hin | her |
- Describes movement directed away from the speaker - Corresponds to the question Wohin | - Describes movement directed toward the speaker - Corresponds to the question Woher |
🙋 ➩ Vom Sprecher weg | 🙋 ⇦ In Richtung Sprecher |
Wohin gehst du? - Wo gehst du hin? → Where are you going? (From the position of the two people communicating, more specifically the speaker's position, where will you move to?) | Woher kommst du? - Wo kommst du her? → Where do you come from? (From where have you moved to the position where the two people are communicating, more specifically the speaker's position?) |
2. How hin and her are used
- Hin and her are not used independently; they combine with a verb (Verb) or preposition (Präposition) to indicate the direction of movement.
a. Hin and her with Verbs
- Hin and her combine with verbs of motion (kommen, fahren, gehen, bringen,...) to form separable verbs (Trennbare Verben).
Komm bitte her! Ich muss mit dir reden.
(Come here! I need to talk to you.)→ herkommen in this case refers to movement toward the speaker's location.
Geht bitte irgendwo anders hin! Ich brauche Ruhe!
(Please go somewhere else. I need quiet!)
→ hingehen in this case refers to movement away from the speaker's position to another location.
b. Hin and her with prepositions
- To indicate direction more precisely, hin and her are often combined with prepositions (aus, ein, auf, unter, über,...)
raus = hinaus/heraus
Similarly we have: rauslaufen, rauskommen, rausfahren,....
Ich gehe aus dem Haus hinaus.
(I am going out of the house.)
→ hinaus: moving outward and away from the speaker. The speaker is inside the house.
rein = hinein/herein
Similarly we have: reinlaufen, reinkommen, reinfahren,....
Einen Moment bitte, ich lasse dich gleich herein.
(Just a moment, I will let you in right away.)
→ herein: moving inward and toward the speaker.
rauf = hinauf/herauf - Going up
Similarly we have: rauflaufen, raufkommen, rauffahren,....
runter = hinunter/herunter - Going down
Similarly we have: runterlaufen, runterkommen, runterfahren,....
rüber = hinüber/herüber - Crossing over
Similarly we have: rüberlaufen, rüberkommen, rüberfahren,....
!!! Note:
- The abbreviated forms are also used as prefixes in certain separable verbs.
Anna kam zu mir ins Haus rein.
(Anna came to my house.)
→ People write reinkommen instead of hereinkommen
- Since hin and her, when combined with prepositions, are both written in the form r- + preposition, they must be distinguished based on the context of the sentence.
Knowledge test
Distinguishing hin and her in German
- 1.
Kommen Sie bitte _____! Die Luft ist so frisch.
- 2.
Geh nicht ____ aus! Es regnet stark.